Lorrie King Smith
November 19, 2011 
At the suggestion of many friends and relatives, I considered hiring a wedding planner when I first got engaged.  However, I decided fairly early on in my engagement that I would be able to complete everything on my own.   I consider myself pretty capable and organized. Not only that, I am also a creative person, so I figured that I could pick out a few DIY projects for decor and just plan ahead. I had my ideas, I had my "to-do" list (which is laughable now) and I was ready to get it all done! 

It wasn't long after I set out on my own that I began to realize I had completely underestimated the amount of decisions that had to be made. There was a sudden and unnerving multiplying effect - for each item I checked off the to-do list, there were 10 items that would pop up as a subset that I hadn't anticipated!  It began to add up.  I suddenly realized that there were all these questions coming from EVERY DIRECTION for which I simply didn't have the answer!

I'll spare you the gory details of what happened in the months between when I decided not to get a planner, until I decided it was time to get a planner. Suffice it to say that, despite my best efforts, I was hanging by a very thin thread. 

I clearly remember after I spoke with my planner on the phone for the first time after we hired her, I immediately felt the weight of the world lift off my shoulders.  It was honestly the first time I felt like planning my wedding could actually be fun!  Over the next several weeks my planner was such a godsend to me.

I mentioned before that I am a creative person and had a specific style that I was trying to achieve for my wedding.  I was worried about involving another person with decor because I am quite particular about style and I thought the end result wouldn't be right.  But my planner was able to understand the look I was going for easily and actually ended up greatly enhancing my ideas.  It was a relief to be able to hand off the decor items to her without having to worry about how it would turn out.  She has a great sense of style and was able to expound upon even the smallest of details that I provided.  The actual wedding day went off without a hitch, thanks to her careful coordination. We got so many comments about how smoothly everything went, how fun the reception was and how beautifully everything was decorated.  For me, being able to actually enjoy the day with the peace of mind that my planner had everything in her capable hands was absolutely priceless.  It was without a doubt the perfect day for me and my husband.  Our only regret is that we didn't save ourselves a lot of trouble and go with her from the beginning!" 

By Jan King, Lorrie’s Mother
In my case, I had two daughters’ weddings back to back, so I was extremely stressed out. But my older daughter had a wedding planner from the beginning so when anything came up that I did not have the answer for, I would always defer to the wedding planner for advice. Lorrie, on the other hand, thought she could save money and do it all herself. Every time she had a question about something that I did not have the answer for or the time to find out, she would get frustrated. The closer to the wedding date, the more stressed she became. She was miserable because she was worrying about everything and having a hard time getting the work finished. After she enlisted the help of a wedding planner, Lorrie was a completely different person.

Our planner added extra special touches that tied everything together beautifully, things even we creative minds didn’t think of.

A bride absolutely must let someone else worry about the details so she can enjoy her wedding day. The benefits of peace of mind and saving time outweigh the cost.

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By Gina Trimarco Cligrow
October 1, 2011
Today’s bride is a busy woman. She most likely has a full time career that she can barely keep up with. Planning a wedding is not like planning a dinner party! It takes hours, days and weeks to prepare and no bride would ever really believe it until she goes through it. Just the task of picking a photographer took forever—taking literally days away from focusing on my business. When it comes to choosing wedding vendors, the bottom line is relationships. A wedding planner can save you time because she knows which vendors match a bride’s personality. If you’re a busy bride, it’s worth the money to have someone do all of the leg work on finding the venue and all of the vendors based on tastes and budget.

Another reason to hire a wedding planner is because quite frankly, a wedding planner can also fill in as a therapist! A bride is pulled in a million directions to the point that she may just throw her arms in the air and say, “I’m eloping!” A wedding planner is like legal representation, a referee, or a spokesperson for a bride. When a bride just can’t deal with things anymore (and it WILL happen), she can count on her planner to ask others to back off (in a nice way of course).

Three memories stand out about my planner: She came to my final dress fitting because no one else was available. I would have been sad doing it alone, and it was so great to have her there to tell me I looked beautiful and to take pictures. Second, she had a bracelet specially made to match my dress that was also designed not to snag the delicate fabric of my wedding dress. She also hand-painted a mobster mural for my gangster-themed shower (I’m from Chicago). Planners make your wedding survivable!

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Sarah Kangarloo Crist
October 9^, 2011
From the first meeting back in June to the wedding day on October 9^th, our planner was by our side. My fiancé Steve and I had no clue what we really wanted; we just knew we wanted to get married in the fall.  Our planner did more than we could ever have expected, from meeting us when I was near a breakdown, to meeting with vendors on our behalf, to finding talented service providers within our budget.  

I am not a crafty person, so the idea of creating our own decorations for the reception was more than intimidating.  We knew we wanted a simple and rustic look, and thanks to our planner’s hard work and dedication, we were able to have that.  She not only made many of our decorations, she even surprised us with some very thoughtful photographs throughout the reception venue. She truly started to feel like a family member as she put her heart and soul into every detail of our wedding.

Unfortunately, my father was ill for the month leading up the wedding, and Steve and I were in Charleston for most of that time.  This left appointments and organizing in the final stretch up to our planner.  She made it so that our only worry was to be with my father and family in Charleston as she took care of all of the wedding details and communications that needed to happen.

 I could go on for days if I tried to capture everything our planner did to make our wedding day perfect.  From showing up for the dress search, styling our engagement shoot, helping me put together my bridal accessories (and even lending me some!), keeping me grounded, communicating with vendors, to quite honestly just being her.  She is one of a kind and will no doubt make your special day unforgettable.

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Anne Costa, mother of Jackie Costa
I am a complete believer in Wedding Planners!   I have given weddings for two other daughters in NJ and I could have used a planner then!  That was 8 and 9 years ago and it was not customary to hire someone to attend to all the details, thus putting it all on "Mom" and the bride, of course.

With a daughter planning a wedding in Myrtle Beach, I was scared to death because I had no idea where to begin.  Once I met with the planner, I knew we did the best thing we could have done!  She totally took the pressure off of me and therefore eliminated the stress that may have come between "bride and mother of the bride".  Talk about priceless...

I would say to anyone having a wedding today...hire a Wedding Planner and let them do what they do best.  Time and money wasted on "bad decisions" can be eliminated by having a planner that has the contacts with the various vendors who will ultimately be involved with the wedding and has the relationships to ensure that good, reasonable, reliable people will be involved from A - Z. 

Jackie Costa
September 29, 2012
Words really can't explain how amazing it is to have a wedding coordinator. I was referred to my planner after I expressed to a mutual friend that my fiancé and I were having a lot of frustration planning our special day. Nothing was going as we planned or wanted.  We had a vision and it just wasn't happening. But then we met our wedding angel! She’s made every step of planning our special day a fun, exciting, and stress-free experience. She does everything from start to finish; she even dressed and styled me from head to toe for a surprise engagement shoot with a professional photographer. Our planner has had our best interests and vision in mind the whole way while we picked vendors, the location, the theme, and the dress! We couldn't have found a better person to help plan the wedding of our dreams. A planner makes planning your wedding amazing!